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Chilis rellenos, or stuffed chilis, have been on my to try list for a while and when I came across some poblano peppers at the market this weekend I knew that it was finally time to make them. Common stuffings for chiles rellenos include cheese and picadillo and although a simple melted cheese filling sounded good I was more in the mood for a picadillo filling. Picadillo is a dish consisting of a ground meat with a tomato sauce, raisins, olives and almonds that has an amazing blend of sweet and savoury that I figured would go really well in the stuffed chiles. In addition to using the tomato sauce in the picadillo, chiles rellenos are often served in a tomato sauce and with this in mind I went with a pretty simple ranchero sauce that could be used in both places. Although it is not required, chiles rellenos are commonly dipped in an egg based batter and fried until nice and golden brown and crispy. At this point the chiles rellenos were pretty much done but I was still thinking about that melted cheesy filling that I had passed up on and I thought, why not cover them in melted cheese? I quickly pulled out a baking dish, threw in the chiles rellenos, covered them with the remaining ranchero sauce and cheese and baked them until the cheese had melted.

The chiles rellenos turned out amazingly well! The combination of the sweet and savoury picadillo filling along with the mildly hot and smoky roasted poblano peppers and the melted cheese and ranchero sauce was out of this world! This was my first time using an egg based batter and I was quite impressed by the light, airy and crispy texture that it produces. Although the chiles rellenos took a bit of effort to make they were so worth it in the end and I will definitely be making these again!

Tip: These chiles rellenos are rather labour intensive but you can make the tomato sauce and the picadillo filling the day before and greatly cut down on the amount of time and effort required on the day that you make them.

Chiles Rellenos

Servings: 4

ingredients

4 large poblano peppers (or 6 medium or 8 small)

4 eggs (separated)

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup flour

oil fo frying

2 cups ranchero sauce (warm, see below)

1 cup jack and cheddar cheese (grated)

1 handful cilantro (chopped)

directions

Broil the poblano peppers on the top oven rack until blackended on all sides.

Place the peppers in a plastic bag and let them sweat for 10-15 minutes before peeling the skins.

Make a small cut along the length of the pepper and scoop out the seeds.

Fill the peppers with some of the picadillo and seal the peppers back up with toothpicks.

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and then beat in the flour followed by the egg yolks one at a time.

Dredge the peppers in the flour and then dip them in the egg white batter.

Fry the peppers in oil heated to 350F/180C until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Place the chiles rellenos in a baking dish, pour the ranchero sauce over them and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the cheese has melted and the sides are bubbling, about 15-20 minutes.

I don't know how this dish has become a misnomer, but the correct spelling is "chiles rellenos" because chili peppers in Spanish are "chiles" while "chili" is the bean and meat mixture you often see in the States.

Anyway, this dish looks amazing. I love how you presented it. Wow. This is my girlfriend's favorite dish. I don't know why, but I guess because it hails from her country.

OMG I LOVE chiles rellenos! Every time we go to my mexican friend's house I BEG for these :) It's a bit of a pain to find the chiles here in the UK - you have to get them from some sort of specialist mexican place, but it's well worth the trouble. Yours look heavenly!

Oh man this looks delicious! Everything here looks so yummy! And your photographs are beautiful.I recently launched my own blog www.prettygoodfood.com I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks and Happy Cooking!

I came across your site recently cause of a search for chili rellenos. I make my own version but wanted something a bit different. I tried yours last night. The only thing i modified for preference was i used ground turkey instead of pork. All else was the same. I really enjoyed the flavors however i had a mess cause my peppers became a bit to soft and would not hold the filling. Also, i would next time cut the two tomatoe sauce & diced, quanties in half... it was alot of sauce.Overall the flavor was worth the extra work... oh you might also want to correct the flour/egg/white wash directions, some people might mis read that.

Hi Kevin. My husband and I are fairly accomplished cooks. We liked the looks of your recipe for chiles rellenos, and gave it a shot. Kevin, it is a very sophisticated recipe with complex layering of flavors. We used Anaheim pepper, which we grow in our garden, as well as our home made tomato puree. Everything came together quite well in the end. We are making it again tonight with a few tweaks - having spent lots of time in California, we like our food spicer, so we've added that. I've kicked up the ranchero sauce just a bit with the addition of chili powder and cinnamon. Kevin, congratulations, this is a fabulous recipe.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.